by Angela Ackerman

Fear is a universal emotion, something almost everyone experiences, and yet no two people respond to it in the exact same way. One person might rush toward danger, while another runs from it. A third shuts down, paralyzed, while a fourth attempts to smooth things over. Understanding why is the key to writing authentic fear.

Fear exists to alert us to potential harm. When a threat is perceived, it kicks off a survival response: stress hormones flood the body, heartrate increases, attention and the senses sharpen, and the body prepares to overcome, escape, endure, or deescalate through fight, flight, freeze, or fawn.

While everyone experiences this same biological chain of events, the survival response chosen—and the form it takes—is unique to the individual.

Why? Because fear is filtered through the many layers that make up a person—their personality, priorities, experiences, ways of coping, and more. As a result, no two fear responses will be exactly alike.  

Personalizing your character’s responses to threatening situations not only elevates the scene, it also builds trust with readers. When a character reacts in ways that are true to who they are, readers instinctively invest more deeply in them and the story.

To make a fear response feel authentic, consider these factors:

Perceived Threat

Not everyone finds a situation threatening. Someone secure in their relationship won’t worry about their partner going on a girl’s trip, while a person with trust issues might. Even when danger is real, people don’t experience the same level of concern. So, to write believable fear, focus on how your character feels about the threat rather than the threat itself.

Questions to ask:

• In this situation, what feels dangerous to my character?
• Is this threat physical, emotional, relational, or does it target their identity/reputation?
• What specific fear is involved?

Risk and Urgency

Fear is about survival, so when the risk is great, characters choose the strategy that gives them the best chance of successfully handling a threat.This is why an alpha character used to battling things head on (fight), may freeze, flee, or fawn. When they realize a fight response will end badly, they reject it for one that helps them navigate the situation safely.

Questions to ask:

• Does my character have time to assess the situation, or must they respond immediately?
• What information do they have that they can act on?
• Is my character able to apply logic or are they in a state of panic?
• What happens if they choose the wrong strategy?

Personality and Tendency

A character’s primary traits influence how they think and behave. A decisive, courageous, and bold person will make choices and act differently from one who is cautious, analytical, and pessimistic.

Questions to ask:

• How does my character handle pressure?
• What personality attributes will help them navigate this crisis?
• What flaws will cause them to struggle in this situation?
• Are they more likely to take charge, observe, negotiate, or withdraw?  

Priorities

Some things matter more than others. Whatever a character seeks to protect most is what’s at stake and will steer how they’ll respond when it’s threatened.

Questions to ask:

• What matters most to my character in this situation?
• What are they most afraid of losing?
• What’s important enough to sacrifice for?

Past Experiences

Life can be a painful teacher. Threats that remind a character of something they endured (especially an emotional wound) can cause fear to spike and erode their ability to cope. Desperation to avoid it happening again may affect their judgment and behavior.

Questions to ask:

• Has my character faced a situation like this before?
• What survival strategy worked (or didn’t) back then?
• How will lessons of the past influence their choices and behavior now?
  

Coping Mechanisms

Everyone has go-to methods of dealing with stress, both healthy and unhealthy. One character might seek advice; another might head straight to the bar. Coping mechanisms are a core part of a character’s psychological makeup, so knowing what they are helps you write authentic responses.

Questions to ask:

• How does my character deal with pressure?
• Do they have habits that intensify when stressed?
• What do they do when they feel overwhelmed?

Bringing It All Together

When you consider the perceived threat, what’s at stake, and who your character is, it becomes easier to write a response that feels authentic and believable. But there’s a lot more to how to show, not tell your character’s fear, so bookmark these for future reading:

• How Fear Affects Your Characters in Real Time
• 8+ Ways to Signal Fear to Readers
• 5 Ways to Take Advantage of Your Character’s Fears
• How Fear Shrinks Your Character’s World Over Time
• Fear Survival Response Sheet (Download)

And don’t forget to check out the Fear Thesaurus at One Stop for Writers® – it dives into 80+ deep fears that your character may be struggling with, and how to write about them.

About Angela:

Angela Ackerman is a story coach, international speaker, and co-author of the bestselling book, The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression, and its many sequels. Available in nine languages, her guides are sourced by US universities, recommended by agents and editors, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, and psychologists around the world. To date, this book collection has sold over a million copies.

Angela is also the co-founder of the popular site Writers Helping Writers®, as well as One Stop for Writers®, a portal to game-changing tools and resources that enable writers to craft powerful fiction. Find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Featured photo purchased from Depositphotos